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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29769720">Coworkers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats'>camichats</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Co-workers, Cross-Generation Relationship, Curse Breaker Harry Potter, Dirty Dancing, Drinking, First Kiss, Getting Together, HP ScarryFest 2021, M/M, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Pining, Team Dynamics, Time Skips, Voyeurism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:54:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,169</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29769720</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>From the first moment Harry meets his new co-worker Scorpius, he's attracted to him. As they grow closer, he falls in love. When he learns that Scorpius likes older men, he can't stop staring, even when he should look away.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Scorpius Malfoy/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>HP ScarryFest 2020-2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Coworkers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Harry changed careers, there had been a lot of discussion about it. Like it or not-- which, just to be clear, he <em> didn't</em>-- he was a celebrity. <em> The Prophet </em> reported on every aspect of his life that they were legally allowed to, so half of Wizarding Britain knew the day after he quit his job as an auror. The same day that he got a job as a curse-breaker, they reported it. Harry had gotten all manner of fanmail about it, ranging from people telling him he should go back to aurors, to aspiring curse-breakers telling him what an inspiration he was, to people recommending new career options-- he'd gotten a chuckle out of the one that had said he should be a nude model. </p><p>He was a lot happier as a curse-breaker. It was a challenge that was more like a puzzle than an everyday struggle that felt endless-- like the aurors had been. His coworkers didn't look at him with a touch of awe, anymore. He was one of the guys, and that was something he'd always wanted with the aurors but never gotten. But then, Bill Weasley was the head of their team, and he didn't tolerate that sort of rubbish. In his words, "I've known you since you were a bloody kid that didn't know which end of your wand to hold, and I'm not going to let my team fall apart because someone thinks the sun shines out of your arse." </p><p>Harry had been endlessly grateful. </p><p>Bill set the tone with everyone else, and after a couple months of work in Peru, any shine they had for Harry Potter, the Saviour of the Wizarding World, was effectively gone. There was only so much ethereal respect you could have for someone that spent half an hour cursing at a doorknob-- according to Scorpius, who had stood there laughing the entire time that Harry tried to figure it out how to disarm it. </p><p>Scorpius was an entirely different problem for Harry, and not in the way that the gossip section tried to claim. <em> They </em> dredged up his rivalry with Draco and said that there must be lingering animosity between their families, and then they speculated on the toll this supposed tension had on the team-- Harry only knew about this because Ron got a kick out of it and had included a clipping in a letter he sent him. The truth was that Harry was... entranced. Everything about Scorpius made Harry fall in love with him a little bit more when he learned of it. </p><p>Scorpius being absolutely gorgeous and a genius at curse-breaking was just the tip of the iceberg. He'd seen those things when they first shook hands and Scorpius welcomed him to the team with a heart-stopping smile, but Harry's attraction to him hadn't ended there. The way he seemed to so thoroughly knew his limits might've been a boring detail to other people, but Harry admired it about him. When he needed help, he asked for it and wasn’t ashamed. He liked how easy it was for him to smile. The way he noticed when someone was in a bad mood and tried to help-- he wasn't always successful, but he always tried. How he laughed like he had nothing to lose and everything to enjoy. Even his off-key singing along with the radio made Harry's heart contract, and that was around the time he realized he was in love, not harboring a strong fancy. </p><p>He knew that he didn't stand a chance, but he didn't let that bother him. He liked being in love. Even unrequited, it was wonderful to know that someone could pick his mood up just by smiling at him or showing up to breakfast with unbrushed hair. He looked at Scorpius and he <em> wanted</em>. There was something to be said for the contentment of wanting. </p><p>Harry had hoped that he wasn't being obvious about it, but if he'd learned anything from being married, it was that he couldn't hide shite. So it wasn't altogether surprising when Bill passed him a beer one day and said, "So, Scorpius, huh?" before taking a sip of the beer he'd brought for himself. </p><p>Harry groaned and took a pull from the bottle. "That obvious?" </p><p>"Yeah." </p><p>"Does he know?" Harry asked, making a face. It was one thing for Bill to know. Bill was simultaneously his boss and his old friend. His best friend, arguably-- which Ron did argue, often. Scorpius was just a coworker at this point, and it was awkward as hell for a coworker twice your age to have a crush on you. The last thing he wanted was to make Scorpius think that he had to watch himself around Harry. </p><p>"Not that I've seen. Everyone knows you're fond of him, but you lucked out landing yourself with a team that's pretty oblivious to romantic overtures." </p><p>"I wasn't trying to make any romantic overtures." </p><p>"It was an all-encompassing phrase. The only relationships any of us have been in was if our partner made the first move." </p><p>"Hey, I kissed Ginny first." </p><p>"Yeah, after she all-but said the words 'I fancy you' to your face." </p><p>Harry shook his head, remembering his relationship with Ginny fondly now that they'd been divorced for several years. "Were you going somewhere with this?" </p><p>"Not really," Bill admitted easily. He'd been pretty laid back for as long as Harry could remember. </p><p>"Cheers. How's Fleur?" </p><p>"Enjoying time with Gabrielle, though she said their mother is driving both of them barmy. Apparently, the way they've been raising their children hasn't been as right as it could've been." </p><p>Harry snorted, glad that he'd never had to deal with that sort of thing. "Isn't that what happened last time?" </p><p>"Yep." </p><p>"Why do they still visit?" </p><p>"Family's important to her." </p><p><em> To everyone</em>, he meant, but people didn't like to remind Harry that he'd grown up without parents, even though it had been ten years since he'd last thought of it as a failing in his life-- and that had been so recent only because he'd wished that he had some guidance heading into James's teenage years. "I guess." He took a drink. "I can't imagine going out of my way to see someone, and instead of them being happy to see me, they lecture me the whole time." </p><p>"Mothers have a way of doing both at the same time." </p><p>Harry made a face as if to say 'that's fair', because he'd noticed Molly do that to all of her children over the years. Harry had been exempt, but Hermione hadn't, and neither had anyone else's spouse, so he didn't really know what it was like. </p><p>They chatted idly about all sorts of things as they sipped at their drinks, and Bill only brought Scorpius up when he was jiggling an empty bottle. "He's a good guy. Kind heart and a solid head on his shoulders. You could do far worse." </p><p>"He's not interested," Harry said, shaking his head. </p><p>"You know that for sure?" </p><p>"Yeah." Harry rolled the bottle between his palms. "I don't look half-bad for my age, but... I've got kids that are as old as him. Even if they were never friends, that's still got to be weird for him. I dunno, maybe I'm finally having a mid-life crisis." </p><p>"What's that?" Bill asked, and Harry blinked at him. </p><p>"Y'know, like, when you're forty or fifty, you do something ridiculous because you're starting to realise that you're not young anymore." </p><p>"Something ridiculous?" Bill repeated. </p><p>"I didn't think this was a muggle-only experience," Harry muttered. "It's usually something to make them feel young again. Dating someone who's twenty; buying a brand new sports car; switching careers." </p><p>"You already switched careers." </p><p>"I can have more than one mid-life crisis.” Also he hadn’t done it because he was afraid of only having the one job; he’d done it because working as an auror had made him miserable. “I died when I was a teenager; I think that entitles me to twice the crisis." </p><p>"You are twice the disaster as most people I've met." </p><p>Harry shoved him. </p><p>Bill only laughed. "There's no such thing in the Wizarding World. You want to date Scorpius, I think you should go for it." </p><p>"He doesn't fancy me," was all Harry had to say. </p>
<hr/><p>"Ooo, is that for me?" Scorpius asked, his expression alight with interest and his eyes focused intently on the bag Harry was carrying. </p><p>"It's for both of us. You try and eat my dinner and I'm going to let a Niffler loose in your trunk." </p><p>"How rude," Scorpius said mildly, clearly knowing that Harry was only teasing. He made grabby hands for the bag, and Harry passed it over, unable to help the fond smile that overtook his face. He opened the carton on top and put it to the side. He opened the next one and passed it to Harry before opening another and digging in. Why he always insisted on eating plain white rice before touching the rest, Harry had no idea. </p><p>When Harry looked down and saw that Scorpius had handed him the noodles-- his favourite-- his chest warmed. </p><p>It wasn't a detail that should mean anything. Everyone on the team had eaten enough meals together to know a couple of favourite foods and allergies and the like. Besides, Harry was the one that had bought this food for them, and if Scorpius didn't think it was for him, then the only other option was for it to be Harry's. And since his first few months on the team, they’d become close. Close enough that him knowing Harry’s foods wasn’t a special accomplishment. </p><p>Knowing that didn't do a thing to calm Harry's heart down, and he spent the entire meal feeling light. Light enough that he accidentally ate more than he'd meant to, although it was hard to say if that had been aided by his distraction with the way Scorpius kept running his fingers through his hair to try and push it back. </p><p>Harry spent more time thinking about what it would feel like for him to put his hand Scorpius's hair to push it back than he did anything else as they ate. </p>
<hr/><p>The team went out to clubs and the like for fun pretty often while they were on a job, but there was always a group outing when they finished a big job. Some place with lots of alcohol, and often dancing since half the team was unattached and young enough that it wasn't really weird for them to pick someone up while dancing. </p><p>Harry usually hung back with Bill and Nalia and Raj since all three of them were married and thoroughly uninterested in dancing. Or, as the case might be, trying to catch someone's attention. Bill jokingly called them 'the old folks' even though Nalia was twenty-three-- maybe twenty-five? Harry wasn't sure. Young. Every outing, there were a couple people that weren't in the mood, and they would join the circle for a little while. </p><p>Sometimes Scorpius dragged Harry away to poke fun about the others, and Harry always wondered what people thought when they saw them. Did they look and know that they were coworkers? Or did they think that they were dating? Harry didn't know, and it's not like there was anyone he could ask. </p><p>He didn't need to know. No matter what the answer was, it wouldn't do him any good. </p><p>This was one of the nights where Scorpius pulled him aside so that they could sit at the bar and people-watch. </p><p>Harry was having a pretty good time. He usually did, but when it was just him and Scorpius, it was practically a guarantee. It was therefore very strange for his mood to plummet so quickly that it left him feeling empty and miserable. </p><p>Scorpius had been looking at Harry, then his eyes drifted to the side, and he went still. His eyes did a slow, familiar slide down the length of someone's body as he checked them out, and Harry swallowed thickly behind his beer bottle to hide his discomfort. It's not that Scorpius wasn't allowed to look at other people or summat, but Harry hadn't known how strange it would feel to actually see it happen. </p><p>"Go for it," Harry said, and Scorpius's eyes shot back to him. </p><p>"What?" </p><p>Harry leaned forward, smiling a little. "You're checking someone out. I think you should go for it." </p><p>"Yeah?" Scorpius asked, his eyes darting to the side then back again. "I don't want to abandon you." </p><p>Harry snorted. "It's not abandoning me if I tell you to go for it. You're a catch; you'll probably have a great night, and I can squeeze myself back into the table." Not that he knew where the table was, since Scorpius had pulled him over here as soon as they walked in, but Scorpius and his mystery bloke would be all he'd be able to think about, so it wouldn't be a disaster if he sat by himself anyways. </p><p>"You think?" Scorpius asked with a smile that looked like the sodding sun. </p><p>"Of course." </p><p>Scorpius took a sip from his drink then licked his lips. He wasn't looking at Harry, so he didn't see the way Harry's eyes traced the movement worshipfully. "Merlin help me, I'm about to get spectacularly rejected." </p><p>"You are not." </p><p>Scorpius looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Look at him, and then tell me that." </p><p>"Have you seen you?" </p><p>"Just look," Scorpius said, pointing. </p><p>Harry rolled his eyes but obediently glanced over his shoulder. He knew better than to stare, so he turned back around and frowned as he continued to picture the man in question. </p><p>"What?" Scorpius asked defensively. </p><p>"He's..." </p><p>He was older. Premature grey hair made him look a bit older than he probably was, but he was definitely closer to Harry's age than Scorpius's. He was handsome, no doubt, but he had weathered skin from so many years in the sun. He was like Scorpius's polar opposite. </p><p>He could point out that the bloke was too old for Scorpius, but that wasn't a direction he wanted to go. To Harry, saying it aloud would be the same as admitting his own fancy of Scorpius was creepy, and he didn't feel that way. So instead of saying that and buggering himself, he said, "I just can't believe you think he's out of your league. You're brilliant." </p><p>"Brilliant, yes. Handsome enough to pull by saying a bad pickup line or five? No." </p><p>"You'll be fine. And if you're not, you get to drown your sorrows with me. Not so bad, yeah?" </p><p>"Yeah," Scorpius agreed with a small smile. He blew out a breath. "Alright, I'm going. Wish me luck." </p>
<hr/><p>Harry hadn't meant to stare, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Scorpius. It wasn't just Scorpius he was looking at, because he had enough practice in not staring at Scorpius that it wasn't very difficult. He'd gotten used to being around Scorpius. </p><p>This? He wasn't used to this. He didn't have practice in not looking at <em> this</em>. </p><p>The team was at a club-- months after the bar where Scorpius hooked up with an older bloke-- and it was no surprise that Scorpius had drawn attention. He'd gone onto the dance floor, and Harry had watched from the corner of his eye. Then Scorpius had glued himself to the front of another man as he danced, and Harry couldn't help but notice what this man looked like. Physically, there wasn't a lot in common with the last guy. This one had dark hair where the first had light. More thick where the other had been thin. What got Harry tripped up was that this man was older, too. </p><p>There were a hundred different men in this club, and Scorpius had chosen someone who was about Harry's age. Again. </p><p>Once could just be a coincidence. The first bloke could've just been the most attractive person in the bar, and that's why Scorpius had been interested. </p><p>Twice was a preference. Scorpius liked older men, and Harry couldn't help the immediate growth of hope in his chest at that realisation. </p><p>Harry's eyes were caught on the way Scorpius's hips moved against the other body, the way he leaned into it like he wanted nothing more than to give over completely. "Merlin," he breathed, without really meaning to. </p><p>He swallowed thickly and cast his eyes around him to see if anyone had heard him, but no one was paying him any attention. He went back to looking at Scorpius. </p><p>Was it ridiculous to say that he looked like sex on legs? Harry used to think that phrase was stupid, but now, looking at Scorpius, he could see what people meant by it. With the way he twisted his hips, it's like Harry was getting insight into how he'd be in bed. With his cheeks flushed from exertion and arousal, it was like Harry knew what his face would like look in the throes of pleasure. </p>
<hr/><p>"Are you okay?" Scorpius asked. </p><p>"Hm? Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Harry said automatically. </p><p>Scorpius didn't have to say anything to make him crack; he just raised an eyebrow and waited. Everyone said he looked like his parents, but Harry didn’t see it. </p><p>"Don't get mad, because I would be talking to anyone else on the team about this if they were in your position, okay?" </p><p>"My position?" Scorpius asked. "Should I be worried?" </p><p>"No, just- don't get mad at me." </p><p>"Why would I be mad at you?" </p><p>"Any time I remind you that I have kids your age, you tend to get a little short." </p><p>There was a reflexive twitch at the corner of Scorpius's mouth before he smoothed it out. "Fair. Do I want to know what you're getting at?" </p><p>"I'm worried about you, is all. The past couple times we've gone out, you've hooked up with... erm, mature men." </p><p>Scorpius didn't say anything for a moment. "If it's about me ditching you, I said I was sorry, and you told me it was fine." </p><p>"No, it's not about that. I'm a grown arse man; I can take drinking alone every once in a while.” And Scorpius had only left him behind the first time, not the second one. He was surprised that Scorpius even remembered it. “Don't you think those blokes were a little old for you, though?" </p><p>"No," Scorpius said honestly. He blushed easily, so there was a light pink dusting his cheeks. </p><p>Harry knew, from watching him, how it would spread across his face when he got turned on. </p><p>"I like people who know who they are. Men who are... solid." He cleared his throat and looked away. </p><p>Harry hadn't realised how deeply they'd been staring at each other until they weren't anymore. It left a charged air in its wake, and that was dangerous. Harry <em> couldn't </em> be with Scorpius. Even if Scorpius were interested in him-- which he wasn't-- it would be a bad idea to come onto him right after chastising him for shagging people his age. It would be more than a little creepy, and he didn't want for Scorpius to think that he was taking advantage of him or summat. </p><p>He hadn't meant to keep staring at Scorpius after he looked away, and he hadn't even noticed that he was doing it. The only reason he noticed at all was because Scorpius looked at him again, and he realised that he had been aware of exactly what he was doing the entire time. That, and the blush across Scorpius's cheeks spread a little further down his cheeks. </p><p>"If you think it's fine, then it's fine," Harry said. His voice sounded rough. He coughed. "I don't have a reason to worry about you, then. You can take care of yourself." He didn't mean to go silent after that, but he didn't have anything else to say. He'd brought up this topic without thinking how it would end, and that was so much like him that he almost expected to turn and see one of his mates snickering. "D'you know where Lila is? I think she said she wanted to talk to me about the upcoming trip to Bosnia." </p><p>Scorpius shook his head, still looking a touch effected by what they'd been talking about. "Last time I saw her, she was with Bill, but that was a couple hours ago." </p><p>"I'll check in with him first anyways. Thanks," Harry said, then beat a hasty retreat. Lila wanted to talk to him about Bosnia? That was the stupidest cover he ever could have come up with, and there was no way that Scorpius hadn't seen through it; he normally wasn't the sort to let an obvious lie go unchallenged, and Harry had no idea what had made this different. Maybe it had simply been that Scorpius had wanted an out to the conversation as much as Harry did. </p>
<hr/><p>Harry told himself that the next time he saw Scorpius dancing with an older bloke, not only was he not going to say anything about it, but he also wasn't going to look. What Scorpius did and who he did it with was his business. Harry didn't need to be watching him all night, waiting for something to go wrong. </p><p>He'd had every intention of holding to that, but then the next night out found Harry nursing a beer by himself-- he could've held a table with Joerg since Bill and the others were off visiting their spouses, but he was more in the mood to be alone-- and his eyes landed on Scorpius. Harry felt like a buggering piece of metal being led to a magnet, sometimes. He'd only looked out on the floor for a few seconds, and he'd managed to find Scorpius through the press of bodies. It's not even like Scorpius was ridiculously tall or summat-- he was taller than Harry, but he wasn't a moose. Not to mention that Harry wasn't exactly sitting in the best spot for perusing the club. He was at the outskirts, specifically because he'd wanted to avoid this. </p><p><em> This is really becoming a problem, </em> Harry thought, about to pull his eyes back to a place that wasn't half so incriminating. And that was when the man Scorpius was dancing with put a hand on his crotch. </p><p>The spot that Harry had chosen to sit at wasn't the best for watching most of what happened in the club, but it was unfortunately well-placed for watching this. He could see Scorpius groan and lean back into the man touching him, and when they stumbled away from the dancefloor and into a dimly lit wall, his view wasn't worse than before. </p><p>He should've looked away as soon as it happened, but the thought didn't even occur to him as both of their trousers opened and they jerked each other off, panting into the other's mouth in some semblance of kisses as they did so. </p><p>It was only after they were done and Scorpius was leaning his head against the wall as he tried to catch his breath that Harry finally turned away. He hadn't noticed that he was hard, but that was no surprise after watching... that. He now knew that his assumption-- that Scorpius looked similar while dancing as he did having sex-- was correct. Being right about something usually made him feel a little better, but right now, it was a tossup between if he felt worse and if he wanted to keep thinking about it because he was already turned on by it-- because if he was already turned on, he might as well deal with it now rather than bring it up again later, when he'd undoubtedly feel terrible for about thinking of it. </p><p>Merlin, what was he doing? This was <em> Scorpius </em>, one of his closest friends, and a man that trusted him. That he'd been looking with no regard to that was bad enough, and he wasn't going to make it worse by daydreaming about it now. If nothing else, thinking about it would make him want to get off, and he wasn't going to do that in this club. </p><p>He shook his head and took a sip of his drink. Downing the whole thing might make him feel better for a little bit, but it was too easy to let his thoughts wander when he was sloshed. </p><p>Maybe he should just leave. He sure as hell wasn't here for the dancing, and he wasn't keeping anybody's company. If Bill didn’t have have to be here, then he didn’t have to either. Now that he wasn't drinking, there was no point in staying. He should probably tell someone he was going, just to be safe, but he didn't know where anyone but Scorpius was-- and walking up to Scorpius right after he'd gotten off with a stranger he'd been dancing with would expose him more than he was comfortable with. </p><p>He sighed and took another sip. He could sit here for a while and finish his drink. He shouldn't dream about pale blond hair and a smile that made his heart light. Yeah, maybe he <em> shouldn't </em> finish off his drink. He pushed it away from himself and motioned to the barkeep so he could pay his tab and go. </p><p>"Leaving already?" Scorpius asked, leaning into the bar next to him. Some of his hair was sticking to his head in small clusters from the sweat, and his face was still flushed. Not as much as it had been before, when he had a hand on his prick, but when Harry looked at his cheeks, it was all he could think about. The man he'd been with before was nowhere to be found. </p><p>Harry was glad to realise that his stiffie had gone down so it was barely noticeable. "I was planning on it, yeah." He glanced around. "What happened to that bloke you were dancing with?" </p><p>"Oh, erm." Scorpius's blush intensified, and there was no reason for Harry to let him stew on it when he knew the answer. </p><p>"In the interest of being honest, I did see you earlier, but I thought I'd let you save face," Harry said, not looking at him and pulling his beer back to take a sip. </p><p>"I appreciate the thought," Scorpius said. </p><p>Even not looking at him, Harry knew that his face was getting more red than before. Rather, it hadn't finished gaining colour from his earlier embarrassment at not having an answer ready. "Anyways, I thought that you'd be spending more time with him, and I didn't feel like finding the others in here, so I was going to leave. If you wanted to stay though, I could...?" Harry let the question trail off, the offer clear. </p><p>"No, it's fine. We can go." </p><p>Harry had assumed that if he left, then Scorpius would stay. They did tend to arrive and leave together, everywhere they went after so long on the team and being close friends, so he didn't really know why he'd thought that. Well. He knew why. Because Scorpius had just gotten off with someone, and he'd assumed that it would lead to something like a relationship. He had no reason to think that-- even less than thinking that Scorpius would stay here while he left-- because Scorpius had hooked up with a couple different people, and he'd never mentioned wanting to be in a relationship with any of them. He knew that Scorpius was interested in relationships in general because they'd talked about it once, but there had never been a mention of why he wasn't interested in it for any of the people he saw on club nights. </p><p>The bartender came over, and Harry paid. The bartender walked away again, but Harry didn't move yet, instead looking at Scorpius, thinking. </p><p>Scorpius caught him looking, of course. "What?" </p><p>"How are you not dating anyone?" He felt like it was a pretty innocent question, all things considered, but Scorpius looked away and licked his lips like he didn't know how to respond. "Forget I asked. We can go." Harry got to his feet, then swayed a little in place. Bugger, he did this every time. He forgot to cut back on his drinks when he was sitting, and it always hit him when he stood. </p><p>"I've got you," Scorpius said, putting an arm around him and holding him steady. Higher than Harry's waist, but lower than just under his arms. They'd done this before, and Scorpius never complained. It had never been awkward, and it wasn't now. Harry couldn't deny that he felt some kind of tension thrumming through him this time, though. </p><p>He wasn't <em> carrying </em> Harry as they left the club and started to walk to the apparation point, but Harry was having to lean on him to ensure that he didn't stumble. He was a little embarrassed by it, and he wasn’t even leaning on him heavily. Scorpius would probably side-along him, even though Harry had told him a dozen times that he could apparate better than he could walk. This time, he didn't think he'd complain; he'd enjoy the closeness while he had it, and that would be that. </p><p>Scorpius was a constant warmth at his side as they walked, and Harry let himself get out of his head too much. He felt more than was advisable, especially with Scorpius right there and his emotions doing what they were. </p><p>"You're really great, you know that?" Harry said, once they were back at camp. </p><p>"I'm glad you think so," Scorpius said with a small laugh. </p><p>"No, I mean, like <em> really </em> great. You're so..." <em> smart, kind, wonderful, caring, handsome </em> "-sexy." </p><p>A pause. Scorpius didn't stop walking, but their pace did slow. "I didn't think you noticed things like that," he said. His voice wasn't quiet necessarily, but it was private-- between the two of them and no one else. "You've never seemed to." </p><p>"I look at you all the time." Then, thinking better of it, Harry added, "I try not to. I don't want you to be uncomfortable." </p><p>"Why would that make me uncomfortable?" </p><p>He snorted. Scorpius was taking this pretty well, which eased a weight of worry off his shoulders. "D'you want a list? I used to think you'd be bothered because I'm older than you," he admitted, “but you've shown recently that you don't care about that." </p><p>"Ha, no. I can't say that ever bothered me. I feel like you don't know what you look like, that you thought it would." </p><p>"When you look the way <em> you </em> do, I think everyone would feel inferior at one time or another," Harry said, because that had been part of the reason he’d worried. Scorpius was like a piece of the bloody sun, and Harry knew he didn’t compare to that. Then, "Can I ask you a question?" </p><p>"Anything," Scorpius said. </p><p>It made Harry want to ask him everything under the sun, but the only question he could think of was the original one. "Why are you friends with me? I'm old enough to be your father-- and he hates me. We're a mismatched pair." </p><p>"First of all, my father doesn't <em> hate </em> you. Maybe he used to-" Harry snorted, and Scorpius grinned "-but he doesn't anymore. Even if he did, that wouldn't effect us at all. Second of all, you might be older than me, but I have more in common with you than most people I've met. We get on, and I like spending time with you. It was the same for you, I thought." </p><p>"It is." Harry never should've brought this up, because they were still walking and he'd gotten very comfortable leaning on Scorpius. He could get back to his room on his own, but that didn't mean he <em> wanted </em> to. Besides, Scorpius was his friend, and while this conversation should've been a little awkward, it hadn't been. </p><p>They walked in silence for a little bit, then Scorpius said, "I had a crush on you when I was a kid." </p><p>Harry snorted. </p><p>"No, really. My dad never did the whole Boy-Who-Lived hype and he tried to respect your privacy, so the first time I saw you was when you were visiting Grandmother." </p><p>Harry had nearly forgotten about those visits, and to be honest, he wasn't sure he remembered seeing Scorpius at all. Narcissa had died before Albus was-- and therefore Scorpius-- old enough to go to Hogwarts. Him and Narcissa had talked over tea about the changes in the Ministry, and he would visit Lucius in prison and tell her how he was, since neither her nor Draco had been allowed. "I don't remember seeing you," he admitted. </p><p>"We weren't exactly introduced. I saw you when you left the manor. You er, reminded me of the Quidditch stars I saw on the fronts of magazines, so I'm pretty sure I thought you were a Quidditch player. I didn't really know why you were talking to her, but," he shrugged, "I <em> was </em> a kid. I didn't know who you really were until I was at Hogwarts." </p><p>"And then ten years later, here you are, with me being the one fancying you." </p><p>Scorpius fished out his wand and tapped it against the locked door, then tucked his wand back in his trousers. He opened the door and helped Harry inside. "You never said that you fancied me, you know." </p><p>"Yes I did," Harry said, frowning. </p><p>"No, you said that you thought I was attractive. That's different." </p><p>"Oh." Oops. Harry glanced over at him, but he didn't seem any more bothered than he'd been before. His face had turned completely red from blushing, but that was the only noticeable difference. Now that they were in his room, Harry put a hand against the wall, then retrieved his arm from where he'd slung it over Scorpius's shoulders. As he leaned away, Scorpius let his arm drop from around him. "Well, yeah," he said intelligently. "I mean, you're..." </p><p>"Great?" Scorpius supplied. "It's the word you used earlier." </p><p>"That's because you <em> are </em>great." Harry reached up and tugged his glasses off. He folded them then set them on the table so he wouldn't break them. He ruffled his hair a little because for some reason, it made sleeping more comfortable. His childhood habit of always pushing it down had come to a stop by the time he had children and constantly had it tugged-- making neatness impossible. Now that he was in his room, he felt tired. </p><p>"I think you're pretty great too," Scorpius said, and this time, his voice was quiet. Not unsure, but secretive. Like so many things, it was between the two of them, and not for anyone else. </p><p>Harry glanced at him again. </p><p>"Maybe tomorrow, when you're not tipsy, we can talk about this more," Scorpius said. "But for now..." He put one hand on the side of Harry's face and leaned in, pressing a soft, short kiss to his mouth. Before he pulled back again, he said, "I used to be a kid with a crush, and now I'm an adult who knows what I want." He swallowed thickly, like he wanted to keep talking but was holding himself back. He tilted his head and this time kissed his cheek, but his touch lingered and Harry leaned into it. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" </p><p>Harry fisted a hand in his shirt before he could think better of it. "You could stay. Not for- that, but." He didn't want to right now anyways, not when he stood a better chance of poking Scorpius than accurately getting another hand on him. It's not like he was sloshed, but he was more tipsy than he wanted to be. He'd thought about this sort of situation a hundred times before, and in none of them was he anything but sober. He also hadn’t imagined that Scorpius would’ve gotten off with someone else less than half an hour before. He wasn’t jealous, but it wasn’t a dream come true, either. "To sleep." </p><p>"That's a very nice idea," Scorpius said, his mouth so close to Harry's ear that he could feel the little puffs of air as he spoke. "But erm, I want to take a shower before I go to bed." </p><p>"Alright," Harry said easily. He turned his head so that he could kiss Scorpius on the cheek in return. "Tomorrow, then." </p><p>Scorpius nodded, then started to lean back. </p><p>Harry realised that he was still holding onto him and let go. </p><p>He took a few steps backwards, towards the door, but his eyes were still on Harry. "Tomorrow," he said again, his voice full of promise. </p><p>He left the room, and when the door clicked shut, Harry sat down heavily on his bed. He could honestly say that when he'd seen Scorpius dancing with someone in the club, he never would've guessed that his night would end like this-- with a promise of more. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This work is part of the HP ScarryFest 2021.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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